JNIM is a jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda and the most powerful militant organisation in the Sahel. It has swept through Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and is menacing their coastal neighbours.
In 2024 a JNIM leader declared the group aimed to expand into Ghana, Togo and Benin. Benin has since experienced two of the deadliest attacks in its history. Togo counted a record number of attacks in 2024. Ivory Coast was attacked as recently as 2021.
JNIM formally announced its presence in Nigeria in October 2025 with an attack in Kwara state. New militant groups have also emerged in the forests along the Nigeria-Benin border.
In September 2025 JNIM launched a fuel blockade of Bamako, Mali's capital. What began as ad hoc retaliation against fuel restrictions imposed by the junta on areas under JNIM's control morphed into a broader economic war. By November 2025 the group had a presence on all the main transit routes in and out of the capital. At least 100 fuel tankers were attacked; petrol fetched up to 5,000 CFA francs ($8.80) a litre on the black market, more than six times the official price. The city was receiving only about 10% of pre-blockade fuel volumes. Electricity fell from 12 hours a day to six. Smaller towns, such as Léré near the Mauritanian border, were also blockaded. The ruling junta cut a deal trading a partial easing for the release of around 30 prisoners, and ramped up fuel-convoy escorts using Africa Corps (the rebranded Wagner Group).
JNIM's fighting force is believed to number around 6,000. Nearly a decade after its founding, the group now has drones and can carry out attacks in at least six countries. Analysts do not believe it has the resources to govern a city like Bamako but reckon it aims to erode public faith in the junta until a more jihadist-friendly government emerges.
In late April 2026 JNIM, in alliance with ethnic Tuareg separatists, launched a wave of attacks in Mali. A suicide-bomber killed the defence minister on April 25th; two days later the Malian army and allied Russian troops began retreating from towns and bases across the north. The group's strikes underscored the limits of Russian-backed military rule in the Sahel.
JNIM in Burkina Faso is growing faster than in any other country. In some places it acts increasingly like a state. Ibrahim Traoré's scorched-earth counter-insurgency—which has killed more civilians than the jihadists themselves, according to a 2026 Human Rights Watch report—is pushing more of the population into the arms of the group, undermining the junta's central justification for holding power.
Cattle theft is a big source of JNIM's income, with profits depending on Ghana's livestock markets. The group uses Ghana as a market and safe haven; some fighters are said to own houses there where their families live. JNIM has also stepped up kidnappings of foreigners for ransom and has recently targeted the western Kayes region, Mali's gold-mining heartland, to grow and diversify its income.
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